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A Very Sad Picture Of The Election Story In Nagaland

By: Thepfulhouvi Solo

The colorless black & white picture of charred CGI Sheets strewn forlornly haphazard on the ground of what was once a respectful NPF Office in Dimapur burned down to ashes, and the wantonly opened Cupboard with Files and Papers vandalized and strewn on the floor in the NPF Office at Kohima City on 7 March 2013, were of late the saddest picture that were to appear in the Nagaland News Papers; much so because it is not only the Offices of the Naga People’s Front, a political Party of the Nagas that recently made a thumping victory in the Nagaland Assembly Election but because it portents very bad precedence in the Political life of the Naga in Nagaland.

How is it that a victorious State Party that has seriously beaten the great Congress Party of India in the latest of Nagaland came to such a painfully ugly picture? Who has dared to do such a thing to the all powerful Party at such a pinnacle of its glory? What an embarrassing picture to all of us Nagas or Are we also becoming like the Hebrews of Josiah’s time Prophet Jeremiah has described so severely as:

“they have become rich and powerful……, they do not defend the rights of the poor. The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority. They have no shame at all; they do not know how to blush”(Jeremiah 6: 15)
It appears earlier also such things have happened in Congress Bhavan and in the Party’s internal Election. It is squarely on the head of the Party Politicians for causing such ugly incidences which may become ingrained the political culture of Nagaland. History repeats itself usually on the same people and a People who can not control itself will be controlled by others.

Are we starting the journey of a thousand Miles with a single one Step into an unruly senseless mob of frenzied dehumanized meaningless group who have no sense of reason and who have no God? It is surprisingly enigmatic that most of us are not struck by the horror of the latest educated vandalism and its apparent senselessness because most of us seem to have deep in us a queer view of it is the direct consequences of the shameless favoritism to someone undeserved and for the shamelessness of discriminating against those that have a need for consideration.

I am not very sure whether we as the Spectators of the Vandalism have our feelings Right or are the perpetrators of the vandalism Right? In any case, I strongly feel the people who caused such actions to happen are to be blamed equally in the first Place.

The shamelessness of not doing: to the fatherless, to the poor, to the deserved and to all the people in Nagaland that have a right to expect from their Leaders, a sense of ‘acceptable probity’.
We believe God has ordained the Government to maintain Peace, to prevent Chaos, to do welfare for the People. The Leader, even at the top is not expected to satisfy the wants of every Dick and Tom in the Society; there would always be some disgruntled ones, but everybody understands things not possible to achieve from the things possible.
The Chief Minister is selected by his Party because of the trust he has earned from his Party. He has the prerogative and is expected to make the appointments of his Cabinet and his Ministry solely on ‘In Public Interest’, not in Personal or Family Interests. It is the universal wisdom of Democracy, not the personal wisdom of Chief Minister.
The latest Ministerial Appointments of the Chief Minister appear to have been done with great political arithmetic. The Chief Minister has shown great political dexterity and ability second to none in the present Nagaland context. It gives us a measure of the man and what he deserves.

However in a few points, he seemed to have revealed to us all his innermost fiber. The overwhelming majority of Nagas irrespective of Party affiliations, irrespective of differences in Language, irrespective of profession, irrespective of people in politics or not, view the Chief Minister should have steered away from Personal or Family Interests and should have given consideration for the poor, the unrepresented smallest often neglected communities and nobody would have any ground for complaint. He has not been able to do such; it discloses a measure of him.
Had the Chief Minister been a little more magnanimous to the poorer sections, to the less cared and a little more self sacrificing personally, Nagaland we all like would have begun the first steps of a pleasant journey of a thousand joyous miles.
Political dealings and behaviors have tremendous domino effect on the future of the Society and how the Nagas, particularly the fortunate, privileged and educated class react to it, will determine the quality of Man and Woman we are and shape the quality of the future Naga Society.